The furniture man nodded his head assentingly. He was big and fat and had evidently come in a hurry. He had been blunt, but confused in telling his story. Now he took a long breath to begin again.
Randy felt his heart sink. Everything had been going so well that the sudden news of an interruption to their buoyant progress chilled him through sheer contrast. He fancied all kinds of mishaps, and, seizing his visitor by the sleeve, pulled it in a worried way.
“Tell me all about it—quick,” he demanded.
“Thought I had, but I guess you didn’t get it straight. This Pep of yours was passing my place when I heard a woman shriek a bit ahead. She had left her child in a baby carriage while she went into a dry goods store. There came a whiff of wind down the street just as she came out. I don’t wonder she hollered out, for that baby carriage was shooting across the street like a feather in a tornado.”
“But—Pep?” urged Randy, breathlessly. “What of him?”
“He saw it in a flash. The woman stood motionless and screaming. This Pep made a sprint. I never saw anything done so splendidly. In a flash he slid over the pavement—just seemed to fly over the street, making for that baby carriage. No wonder he hurried and no wonder the woman screamed, for exactly at that instant a great red touring car came tearing around the corner. It held the chauffeur and a fine looking old gentleman, who just rose up in his seat with a yell as he saw that baby carriage directly in the path of the machine.
“There wasn’t even time for the chauffeur to move the wheel. I actually shut my eyes, thinking the smash was bound to come. I don’t know how the lad did it, but when I opened them, just cold with horror, there he was lying on the ground and the baby carriage spinning safe and sound across the street.”
“How badly was Pep hurt?” inquired Randy, his face pale with suspense.
“I heard someone in the crowd say his wrist was broken. It seems, at the risk of his own life, he had made that dash for the baby carriage and given it a push out of the way of the auto just as it was pouncing down upon it.”
“Where is Pep now?” asked Randy.